Cartridge catcher

ABSTRACT

A cartridge catcher for use with a gun having a receiver formed with a side opening cartridge ejector outlet and including a pivot pin-receiving bore. The catcher includes a lobe-shaped housing formed with a storage receptacle having an inlet registered with said ejector outlet. A mounting flange is carried from the housing for clipping over the top of the receiver and a boss is also carried from the housing and is formed with a through passage for registration with the pivot pin-receiving bore to receive a mounting stud whereby the pivot pin may be removed from the receiver and the mounting flange clipped over the top of the receiver and the mounting stud inserted through the passage and into the bore for mounting such catcher on the gun without modification thereof.

llite States Patent 11 1 Lundgren CARTRIDGE CATCHER [76] Inventor: Ken (3. Lundgren, 6837 Huntdale St., Long Beach, Calif. 90808 [22] Filed: Oct. 22, 1969 [21] Appl. No.: 868,522

[52] US. Cl. 89/33 F 51 Int. Cl. F411! 11/00 [58] Field of Search 89/33 R, 33 F [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,337,327 4/1920 Rockwell 89/33 D FORElGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 670,512 11/1929 Franceum .l 89/33 F Prima ry ExaminerStephen C. Bentley Att0rney-Fulwider, Patton Rieber, Lee & Utecht 1 June 19, 1973 57] ABSTRACT A cartridge catcher for use with a gun having a receiver formed with a side opening cartridge ejector outlet and including a pivot pin-receiving bore. The catcher includes a lobe-shaped housing formed with a storage receptacle having an inlet registered with said ejector outlet. A mounting flange is carried from the housing for clipping over the top of the receiver and a boss is also carried from the housing and is formed with a through passage for registration with the pivot pinreceiving bore to receive a mounting stud whereby the pivot pin may be removed from the receiver and the mounting flange clipped over the top of the receiver and the mounting stud inserted through the passage and into the bore for mounting such catcher on the gun without modification thereof.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures CARTRIDGE CATCIIER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is related to cartridge catchers for catching spent cartridges ejected from a rifle to thereby store such cartridges for future reloading.

2. Description of the Prior Art Cartridge catchers have been proposed which include a mounting flange for clipping over the top of a receiver and a resilient arm for engagement beneath the receiver to cooperate with the flange to hold such catcher on a gun. A catcher of this type is shown in US. Pat. No. 2,354,277. A cartridge catcher of this type cannot be utilized on a gun where the underside of the receiver is obstructed and this type of mounting is relatively insecure and allows shifting of the catcher relative to the gun thereby resulting in damage thereto.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The cartridge catcher of present invention is intended for use with a gun including a receiver having a side opening cartridge ejector outlet and including a pivot pin receiving bore. The cartridge catcher includes a housing formed with a storage receptacle having an inlet registered with the cartridge ejector outlet. A mounting flange is provided to be clipped over the top of the receiver and a boss is formed with a through passage which is registered with the pivot pin-receiving bore and a mounting stud is provided for insertion through the passage and into the pivot pin-receiving bore to cooperate with the mounting flange to hold the cartridge catcher securely on the gun.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge catcher. of the type described which can be mounted on a gun without modification thereof.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge catcher. of the type described which is attractive in design and compliments the configuration of the gun on which it is mounted.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge catcher of the type described which is economical to manufacture and convenient to use.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a cartridge catcher of the type describedfrom which the spent cartridges can be conveniently and rapidly removed.

These and other objects and the advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a gun having cartridge catcher embodying the present invention mounted thereon;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, in enlarged'scale, of the cartridge catcher shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view, in enlarged scale, taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

The mountingflange 41 projects horizontally from FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG. 3 and showing the cartridge catcher in its open position; and

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view, in enlarged scale, taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, generally, the cartridge catcher 11 of present invention is particularly adapted for use with a rifle 13, such as the AR-15 SPORTER, as manufactured by Colt Manufacturing Company, Incorporation of Hartford, Connecticut. Obviously, the catcher 11 can be easily used with any rifle of equivalent structure. The rifle 13 includes a receiver 17 formed between the stock 19 and hand guard 21. The receiver 17 is formed with a side opening cartridge ejector outlet and includes on its forward extremity a hollow transverse pivot stud 27 (FIG. 5) which acts as a sleeve and is formed with an open ended threaded bore which normally receives a pivot pin (not shown). Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 5, the cartridge catcher 1 1 includes a housing formed with a storage receptacle having a spent cartridge inlet 37 disposed in confrontation with the ejector outlet 25. A mounting flange 41 is carried by the upper portion of the cartridge catcher for clipping over the upper portion of the receiver 17 and a boss 43 is formed at the lower forward extremity of the catcher 11 for receipt of a mounting stud 45 (FIG. 5) which extends therethrough and is received in the threaded bore formed by the hollow stud 27. Thus the cartridge catcher 11 may be conveniently mounted on the rifle 13 by merely removing the conventional pivot pin (not shown) from the bore formed in the pivot sleeve 27 and clipping the mounting flange 41 over the receiver 17 and inserting the mounting stud 45 through the boss 43 and screwing it into the sleeve 27.

The housing of the cartridge catcher 11 includes a quiescent portion 49 which carries the mounting flange 41 and is, itself, generally lobe-shaped and open on one side to form an outwardly facing opening 51. The cartridge housing also includes a lobe-shaped cover 53 which is open on one side to form an opening 55 which mates with the opening 51 when the cartridge catcher is closed. The cover 53 has its lower edge connected to. the quiescent housing portion 49 by means of a piano type hinge 57.

The cover 53 has a resilient bale, generally designated 61, pivotally connected to its upper extremity for selective engagement with a lug affixed to the upper extremity of the quiescent housing portion 49. The bale 61 is formed on its opposite extremities with inwardly turned hinge elements 67 which are received in bores formed in the opposite end walls of the cover 53 and is formed centrally with a raised kink 71 which defines a finger-grip portion. The lug 65 includes a central arcuate depression 73 that receives a length of the bale 61 for holding the cover 53 closed.

The lower portion of the quiescent housing 49 is formed with a downwardly turned bearing lip 75 which rests against the side of the receiver 17. The cartridgereceiving inlet 37 is of sufficient size to enable an ejector outlet cover 79 included in the. gun 13 to pivot downwardly to its open position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

In operation the cartridge catcher 11 may be conveniently mounted on a rifle 13 by merely removing the conventional pivot pin (not shown) from the pivot sleeve 27 and clipping the mounting flange 41 over the 'upper portion of the receiver 17 and inserting the mounting stud 45 through the boss 43 and screwing it into the pivot sleeve 27. The mounting flange 41 and pin 45 will then cooperate to hold the cartridge catcher 1 l securely mounted on the side of the receiver 17 and prevent shifting thereof when the gun is fired to prevent damage to the gun structure.

When the gun 13 is fired the spent shells will be ejected out the ejector outlet opening 25 and through the inlet 37 to the receptacle 35 where they will be stored for subsequent removal. When the spent cartridges are to be removed from the receptacle 35, the finger-grip portion 71 of the bale 61 may be pushed outwardly to disengage such bale from the lug depression 73 and enable the cover 53 to be pivoted to its open position shown in FIG. 4. The spent cartridges may then be easily removed from the receptacle 35 and will be available for reloading thereby eliminating the necessity of retrieving such cartridges from the ground and eliminating the possibility of damage thereto upon striking the ground.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the lobeshaped cartridge catcher of present invention may be conveniently manufactured by forming or stamping the cover and quiescent portion separately for economic production. Further, the cartridge catcher may be conveniently mounted on a conventional rifle without modification thereof whereby such rifle, if desired, may

be easily returned to its original configuration.

Various modifications and changes may be made with regard to the foregoing detailed description without departing from the spirit of the invention.

1 claim:

1. A cartridge catcher for use with a gun including a receiver formed with a side opening defining a spent cartridge outlet and including a pivot pin-receiving bore, said catcher comprising:

a housing including a quiescent portion formed with an opening and a hinged cover normally covering said opening, said quiescent portion and cover cooperating to form a storage receptacle having an inlet registered with said spent cartridge outlet;

latch means including a lug mounted on said quiescent portion and a resilient bale carried pivotally from said cover for engagement over said lug;

a mounting flange connected with said housing for clipping over the top of said receiver; and

a boss carried from said housing and formed with a through passage registered with said bore; and

a mounting stud for extension through said passage and into said bore to cooperate with said mounting flange and mount said catcher on said receiver whereby said catcher can be securely mounted on said gun without modification thereof.

2. A cartridge catcher as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said bale is formed with a kink which defines a finger grasp portion. 

1. A cartridge catcher for use with a gun including a receiver formed with a side opening defining a spent cartridge outlet and including a pivot pin-receiving bore, said catcher comprising: a housing including a quiescent portion formed with an opening and a hinged cover normally covering said opening, said quiescent portion and cover cooperating to form a storage receptacle having an inlet registered with said spent cartridge outlet; latch means including a lug mounted on said quiescent portion and a resilient bale carried pivotally from said cover for engagement over said lug; a mounting flange connected with said housing for clipping over the top of said receiver; and a boss carried from said housing and formed with a through passage registered with said bore; and a mounting stud for extension through said passage and into said bore to cooperate with said mounting flange and mount said catcher on said receiver whereby said catcher can be securely mounted on said gun without modification thereof.
 2. A cartridge catcher as set forth in claim 1 wherein: said bale is formed with a kink which defines a finger grasp portion. 